20181218
HOPE AGAINST HOPE
18 DECEMBER,
2018, Tuesday, 3rd Week, Advent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Violet.
|
First reading
|
Jeremiah 23:5-8 ©
|
|
I will raise a virtuous Branch for David
|
See, the days are coming – it is the
Lord who speaks –
when I will raise a virtuous Branch for
David,
who will reign as true king and be wise,
practising honesty and integrity in the
land.
In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel dwell in confidence.
And this is the name he will be called:
The-Lord-our-integrity.
So, then, the days are coming – it is
the Lord who speaks – when people will no longer say, “As the Lord lives
who brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt!” but, “As the Lord
lives who led back and brought home the descendants of the House of Israel out
of the land of the North and from all the countries to which he had dispersed
them, to live on their own soil.”
|
Responsorial Psalm
|
|
Psalm
71(72):1-2,12-13,18-19 ©
|
In his days justice
shall flourish, and peace until the moon fails.
O God, give your judgement to the king,
to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge your people in justice
and your poor in right
judgement.
In his days justice
shall flourish, and peace until the moon fails.
For he shall save the poor when they cry
and the needy who are
helpless.
He will have pity on the weak
and save the lives of the
poor.
In his days justice
shall flourish, and peace until the moon fails.
Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel,
who alone works wonders,
ever blessed his glorious name.
Let his glory fill the earth.
Amen! Amen!
In his days justice
shall flourish, and peace until the moon fails.
|
Gospel Acclamation
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Ruler of the House of Israel,
who gave the law to Moses on Sinai,
come and save us with outstretched arm.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
|
Matthew 1:18-24 ©
|
|
How Jesus Christ came to be born
|
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born.
His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together
she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph;
being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce
her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to
take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy
Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is
the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to
fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to
a son
and they will call him Emmanuel,
a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’ When
Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took
his wife to his home.
HOPE AGAINST HOPE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ JER 23:5-8; MATTHEW 1:18-24 ]
How can we believe that
God is a just God when our lives do not seem to be happening the way we
want? Our
lives are fraught with so many challenges. We may be suffering from an
incurable sickness, our children are not doing well in their studies, our
marriage is not working out. Some of us are in financial
difficulties. There is division and injustice in our workplace. How can
we believe in the justice of God and that His promises would be
fulfilled? How could we say with conviction that “in his days justice
shall flourish, and peace until the moon fails.”? This is especially so
when we see the rich prospering and the poor suffering. Or when the rich
keeps striking lottery but the poor never gets lucky. Where is the
justice of God in this world, we ask?
Today, we are called to
take courage from the faith of the prophets, especially from Mary and Joseph. For the prophets who kept
encouraging their people, it was almost a hopeless task and an impossible
dream. How could they in all honesty assure the people that God’s justice
would prevail, that He would restore the Davidic dynasty? This was so
when we consider the situation they were in. After David and Solomon, the kings
were rather inept. Many were bad and evil kings. King Ahaz was an
apostate. Many lacked faith in God and abused their office.
Against all odds, how could the prophets believe that God would be faithful to
His promise to King David of an everlasting Kingdom. With the destruction
of Jerusalem and the exile, all hopes were lost. At any rate it did not
seem right even to hope for the restoration to take place because the kings had
always proven to be wicked, self-serving, unjust and hopeless, one after
another.
Yet, again and again,
the prophets even before their time and the impossible situation they were in,
would declare like the psalmist that God is just. “In his days justice shall
flourish, and peace until the moon fails. For he shall save the poor when they
cry and the needy who are helpless. He will have pity on the weak and save the
lives of the poor.” So the prayer of the Israelites remained fervent and
strong even in failure. “O God, give your judgement to the king, to a
king’s son your justice, that he may judge your people in justice and your poor
in right judgement.”
We have a similar situation in the gospel
as well. Joseph was devastated when he discovered Mary to be
pregnant. That was an undeniable fact. Secondly, that she was
unfaithful to him was also an obvious fact, unless one believed in supernatural
intervention. Thirdly, Joseph was a kind, forgiving and a just
man. This situation could not continue and he had to find an amicable
solution to save the situation for all. We can be sure that it was the
most agonising and excruciating time of his life as he mulled over what to do.
He came out with a natural solution which was to send Mary away quietly and
divorce her.
For Mary, it was even
more difficult for a young woman. No one was going to believe that she was
conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. She could not defend or
justify herself. She must have felt helpless. She was faced
with the prospect of being stoned to death. What would her future be
like? So in faith, she allowed the natural course of development to
take place. She was not rebellious or angry or felt the injustices of God
who assured her that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and remain with her
to protect her and ensure that the impossible would happen. She went
along with whatever the Lord willed for her, believing it to be His plan and His
wisdom.
Yet, when we think that
there is no hope, God showed forth His power to intervene. He is a God of surprises. With the
Israelites in exile, He promised that a remnant would be left and from the
stump would come a stock and He would be a virtuous king and restore justice
and the kingdom of David. “See, the days are coming – it is the Lord who
speaks – when I will raise a virtuous Branch for David who will reign as true
king and be wise, practising honesty and integrity in the land. In his
days Judah will be saved and Israel dwell in confidence. And this is the name
he will be called: The-Lord-our-integrity.”
And that they would
return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city after their captivity. “So, then, the days are coming – it is the
Lord who speaks – when people will no longer say, “As the Lord lives who
brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt!” but, “As the Lord lives
who led back and brought home the descendants of the House of Israel out of the
land of the North and from all the countries to which he had dispersed them, to
live on their own soil.” But this seems too good to be true or even be
realised. Was it just a dream and another empty promise as the past kings
were miserably unfit to rule?
So too we read of the
miraculous turn of Joseph.
We see the hand of God’s intervention prompting Joseph to change his mind when
he was enlightened that it was truly the work of God. More importantly, he even
decided to remain faithful to Mary by taking her as his wife and remaining as a
foster father to Jesus. Together with her, they remained celibate for the Lord;
again almost an impossible task, especially when they lived together and, like
any human being, had the need for human love.
What can we learn from
them? We are called to trust in the wisdom of God and His plan. He knows what is best.
We cooperate with Him as best we can in a natural way and leave the rest to
God. He will fulfill His promises beyond our imagination.
Just as the coming of Christ fulfilled the remote prophecies of the Messiah, so
too He will fulfill His promises to us. We too can say, “In his
days justice shall flourish, and peace until the moon fails. Blessed be the
Lord, God of Israel, who alone works wonders, ever blessed his glorious name.
Let his glory fill the earth. Amen! Amen!”
Indeed, we remember the
words of Isaiah when
the Lord spoke through him, “Remember this and be dismayed, stir your memories
again, you sinners, remember things long past. I am God unrivalled, God who has
no like. From the beginning I foretold the future, and predicted beforehand
what is to be. I say: My purpose shall last; I will do whatever I choose. I
call a bird of prey from the east, my man of destiny from a far country. No
sooner is it said than done, no sooner planned than performed. Listen to me,
faint hearts, who feel far from victory. I bring my victory near, already it is
close, my salvation will not be late. I will give salvation to Zion, my glory
shall be for Israel.” (Isa 46) All these are
fulfilled at Christmas with the arrival of Christ the infant king of the
Jews. God is a just and faithful God. We must trust that God is in
charge of our lives. He knows what is best for us.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment